--- title: Tommy Ramone, Last of the Ramones, Dies description: The Ramones forged a harder-edged, faster and influenced generations of rockers canonical: https://time.com/2978302/tommy-ramone-ramones-dies/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-12T12:33:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:08:07.795Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Tommy Ramone, Last of the Ramones, Dies og:description: The Ramones forged a harder-edged, faster and influenced generations of rockers og:url: https://time.com/2978302/tommy-ramone-ramones-dies/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbef6e99667eb4932/69869b8035ba6f026fc02fd3/42-15290124.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Tommy Ramone of former U.S. punk band 'The Ramones' addresses the media in Berlin og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tommy Ramone, Last of the Ramones, Dies twitter:description: The Ramones forged a harder-edged, faster and influenced generations of rockers twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbef6e99667eb4932/69869b8035ba6f026fc02fd3/42-15290124.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Tommy Ramone, Last of the Ramones, Dies by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Jul 12, 2014 12:33 PM UTC  Tommy Ramone addresses the media after a rehearsal of the musical 'Gabba Gabba Hey !' in Berlin, May 3, 2005. Tommy Ramone addresses the media after a rehearsal of the musical 'Gabba Gabba Hey !' in Berlin, May 3, 2005.Arnd Wiegmann—Reuters by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Jul 12, 2014 12:33 PM UTC Tommy Ramone, the last surviving original member of the groundbreaking punk band the Ramones, [died](http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/07/12/us/ap-us-obit-ramone.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpHeadline&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&%5Fr=0) Friday at the age of 65. Drummer Tommy Ramone co-founded the Ramones along with singer Joey Ramone, bassist Dee Dee Ramone and guitarist Johnny Ramone in 1974 in New York. The four members all adopted the same last name with the formation of the band. Tommy Ramone’s passing was confirmed by Dave Frey, who works for Ramones Productions and Silent Partner Management. There were no additional details about the circumstances of the death of Tommy Ramone, who was born Erdelyi Tamas in Budapest, Hungary, reports the Associated Press. ### Tommy Ramone: A Rock n’ Roll Life in Photos  The Ramones performing at CBGB, 1978. Roberta Bayley—Redferns/Getty Images  Tommy Ramone performs on stage with The Ramones at The Roundhouse in London, July 4th, 1976. Gus Stewart—Redferns/Getty Images  Tommy Ramone in Liverpool, May 19, 1977. Ian Dickson—Redferns/Getty Images  From left to right, Johnny Ramone, Joey Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone, and Tommy Ramone photographed in San Francisco, Jan. 31, 1978. Ed Perlstein—Redferns/Getty Images  From left to right, Johnny Ramone, Tommy Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone and Marky Ramone following The Ramones induction to the Rock Hall of Fame, March 18, 2002. KMazur—WireImage/Getty Images  Tommy Ramone performs on stage during The Ramones Cancer Benefit at Spirit on Oct. 8, 2004 in New York City. Scott Gries—Getty Images  Tommy Ramone addresses the media after a rehearsal of the musical 'Gabba Gabba Hey !' in Berlin, May 3, 2005. Arnd Wiegmann—Reuters  From left to right, Marky Ramone, Tommy Ramone and Neil Portnow attend the Recording Academy Special Merit Awards Ceremony at The Wilshire Ebell Theatre on Feb. 12, 2011 in Los Angeles. Noel Vasquez—Getty Images  Tommy Ramone attends the 'Commando: The Autobiography of Johnny Ramone' book party at BookMarc on April 27, 2012 in Los Angeles. Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic/Getty Images The band’s hit songs like “[I Wanna Be Sedated](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-EKcjpEIGo),” and “[Blitzkrieg Bop](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWrtrK1Q2EQ)” changed the course of rock n’ roll, influencing artists from Nirvana to Green Day and Kurt Cobain. Donning their trademark leather jackets and long black mops of hair, the Ramones set a harder, faster and grungier tone for rockers to emulate. Some of the Ramones’ best-known songs reflected their tumultuous teen years in Queens: “Beat on the Brat,” ”Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue,” ”Teenage Lobotomy,” ”Sheena Is a Punk Rocker.” Dee Dee Ramone died of a drug overdose in 2002, while Johnny Ramone and Joey Ramone died of cancer in the mid aughts. \[[_AP_](http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/07/12/us/ap-us-obit-ramone.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpHeadline&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&%5Fr=0)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2978302/tommy-ramone-ramones-dies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2978302/tommy-ramone-ramones-dies/"},"headline":"Tommy Ramone, Last of the Ramones, Dies","datePublished":"2014-07-12T12:33:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:08:07.795Z","description":"The Ramones forged a harder-edged, faster side to rock and influenced generations of rockers","url":"https://time.com/2978302/tommy-ramone-ramones-dies/","keywords":["Music","obituary"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbef6e99667eb4932/69869b8035ba6f026fc02fd3/42-15290124.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbef6e99667eb4932/69869b8035ba6f026fc02fd3/42-15290124.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Tommy Ramone of former U.S. punk band 'The Ramones' addresses the media in Berlin","caption":"Tommy Ramone of former U.S. punk band 'The Ramones' addresses the media in Berlin","creditText":"Arnd Wiegmann—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2978302/tommy-ramone-ramones-dies/","name":"Tommy Ramone, Last of the Ramones, Dies"}}]}] ```